Let Hogg boss the right side so the Lions can spread some fear across the Aussies

Stuart Hogg was playing his first game at fly-half since he was at Hawick High School on the Scottish borders and his effortless switch to the playmaker role proves he is a serious contender to start the first Test - on the wing.

George North will start on the left wing - his form demands that - so for me it comes down to a straight shoot-out between Alex Cuthbert and Hogg on the right flank.

Hogg is a natural footballer who has vision to find space against any defence and a composed play-making ability. He slotted straight in because he is comfortable and patient with the ball in his hands, but he is also fast enough to play anywhere in the back three, making more metres than his two centres combined.

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Speedster: Hogg is fast enough to play anywhere in the back three

Starter: North should start on the left wing for the Lions, as his form demands

The Australian attack is so dangerous precisely because they have playmakers littered through their back line who are all capable of playing stand-off, such as Kurtley Beale, James O’Connor and Berrick Barnes. Hogg would represent a similar threat in a Lions shirt.

If he plays on the wing he can drop back to field clearances and either launch a counter attack with his speed and endeavour - as England found out at Twickenham during the Six Nations - or punt the ball back up field with his giant (and accurate) boot.

Contenders: It should be a straight shoot-out between Cuthbert (above) and Hogg for the right flank spot

Cuthbert has been exposed at times in defence by his positioning - he gets caught in no man’s land between committing with a blitz defence and holding the line - and that may cost him. If I were Robbie Deans, I would much prefer to see Cuthbert in the starting line-up than the unpredictable and versatile Hogg.

With the exception of that slot on the right wing, the back line for the first Test is decided. Against limited opposition, Jamie Roberts and Brian O’Driscoll showed the link-up play and power that makes them a shoo-in in the midfield. Jonathan Davies and Manu Tuilagi are fighting for a position on the bench.

Sure: Roberts (left) and O'Driscoll (right) showed the link-up play and power that makes them shoo-ins

Wasted warm-up

The Combined Countries came together on Sunday and had a single training session so once again the Lions have virtually nothing to take out of this game. I have never seen an Australian team celebrate because they had lost a match by fewer than 100 points - the smiles on their faces were simply bizarre.

As a nation with such sporting pedigree - who pride themselves on their reputation as tough, hard competitors - I could not believe the jubilation and high fives after they had not even scored a point. It reminded me of the Corinthian spirit they used to love ridiculing the Poms about. What would the great Australian competitors, the likes of Shane Warne and Ian Thorpe, have made of that?

The Queensland warm-up was a great advert for Australian rugby, but it has been followed up by a soft, meaningless match. I really do not know what has happened to sport Down Under.

Warren Gatland has no need to play his Test team on Saturday - the Waratahs are without 10 Wallabies and playing another weak team will do nothing to help him prepare for the first Test.

The Lions management have to take some responsibility for this farcical build-up and they must ensure it never happens again when they renegotiate the terms of these tours with Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. The rival unions must guarantee the release of their Test players or these warm-up matches become worthless.

You can run around in all the practice matches you like but it does not amount to Test-match preparation. The only good news is that 12 years ago they turned up under-cooked in Brisbane and were smashed. They are currently in the middle of a training camp on the Sunshine Coast, they haven’t played a Test match since December and they will be rusty. It seems they have not learned their lesson.

One reason the Lions did not rack up a three-figure total is because they are training much harder than they normally would on days before games to maximise their limited preparation time, so their legs are heavy.

Catch me: The Lions ran away with the contest, and have been training extremely hard

You get no prizes for how you train so the Lions have to apply a mix of common sense and experience to make sure they are in peak physical shape a week on Saturday.

Gatland knows how his Welsh players handle a Test week but each man in the squad will need a tailored regime - some will need to be pushed hard, others you have to hold back.

Ambition

The Lions are playing with great ambition - they have a mindset that they are trying to score off every phase. Going into yesterday’s game they had scored seven of their 18 tries from a first phase and Hogg called an early move off a line out that worked perfectly. Jamie Roberts started at outside centre, ran a hard dummy line inside to check the defence, and George North completed the move in the corner. It worked like clockwork.

The Lions made 739 metres to their opponents’ 69 (not a single starting player for the Combined Countries managed to hit double figures) but their inaccuracy cost them - 13 handling errors and 21 turnovers. The mindset is right, they just need to match it with their accuracy.

Down: Richard Hibbard dives over to score a try during the match against Combined Country

Benchmark

In previous games the Lions have kept their structure and shape when new players came off the bench, but they were disrupted yesterday. It was a combination of factors - these player are not used to coming off the bench, they knew the game was won and, even if only at the back of their minds, they do not want to get injured.

In most Test matches there are fewer than five points separating the teams with 30 minutes on the clock so Gatland’s selection on the bench is as crucial as his starting XV.

I am not an advocate of fresh legs for the sake of it - you only make changes if players are really fatigued or a significant tactical change is necessary.

I would rather bring on Ben Youngs than Mike Phillips with half an hour to play - he has more pace and there are more gaps to exploit when defenders are tiring in what is statistically the highest-scoring segment of the match.

Options: Woodward would rather bring on Ben Youngs (left) than Mike Phillips (right) towards the end of a game